As we improve our own internal web framework that powers iContact, we’ve identified some key things you should look for in any web framework.

Must haves:
1. Request
2. Response
3. RequestHandler

These must haves provide an abstraction for the key elements of any web framework, whether it be MVC or otherwise. Having objects to encapsulate the request and send back a response allow for many tasks to be simple. Most importantly, they allow you to construct a test harness that doesn’t have to jump through hoops to process headers or handle sessions.